How to Implement DataGrid Sorting in WPF

Overview

The WPF DataGrid control provides built-in column sorting out of the box. When CanUserSortColumns is set to true (the default), clicking a column header sorts the rows by that column. In this article we cover the essentials and explore patterns for customising sort behaviour.

Enabling Default Sorting

By default, every column in a DataGrid is sortable as long as its SortMemberPath can be resolved against the bound data source:

<DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding Products}"
          AutoGenerateColumns="False"
          CanUserSortColumns="True">
  <DataGrid.Columns>
    <DataGridTextColumn Header="Name"  Binding="{Binding Name}"  SortMemberPath="Name" />
    <DataGridTextColumn Header="Price" Binding="{Binding Price}" SortMemberPath="Price" />
  </DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>

Clicking the Name header once sorts ascending; clicking again reverses to descending; a third click clears the sort.

Sorting via Code-Behind

You can trigger sorting programmatically by manipulating DataGrid.Items.SortDescriptions:

using System.ComponentModel;

dataGrid.Items.SortDescriptions.Clear();
dataGrid.Items.SortDescriptions.Add(
    new SortDescription(nameof(Product.Price), ListSortDirection.Descending));
dataGrid.Items.Refresh();

Reset the column-header sort glyph too so the UI stays in sync:

foreach (var col in dataGrid.Columns)
    col.SortDirection = null;

var priceCol = dataGrid.Columns.First(c => c.SortMemberPath == nameof(Product.Price));
priceCol.SortDirection = ListSortDirection.Descending;

Custom Sort Logic with ICollectionView

For complex scenarios — case-insensitive string sort, multi-level sort, or sorting computed properties — use ICollectionView.CustomSort:

var view = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(dataGrid.ItemsSource);
view.CustomSort = Comparer<Product>.Create((a, b) =>
    StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase.Compare(a.Name, b.Name));

CustomSort takes precedence over SortDescriptions, so clear SortDescriptions first if you switch between the two approaches.

Summary

For most line-of-business apps the default mechanism covers the common cases. Reach for CustomSort only when the data requires special ordering that SortDescription cannot express.